I had gone to the beach to perform the mikveh immersion ritual whilst skipping the notoriously packed pre-Yom Kippur mikveh facilities in town. Halacha doesn't dictate which body of water I choose to immerse myself and the logical choice for some is to choose a quiet beach to perform the ritual and possibly be alone with their thoughts before the Awesome day.
I had elected to join a car of young men my age and as soon as we got to the water we each scattered to dip in privacy. The eerily empty beach wasn’t cause for concern and somehow the heavy gusts of wind and chilly temperatures never concerned us. The whole excursion was a spontaneous decision and nobody could possibly have thought to check the tide reports. There were no lifeguards and save for one gentleman casting fishing line we were all alone, which was fine for us.
The water was chilly and choppy and I was having trouble getting my entire body below water so I swam a little further out. I ditched my trunks and proceeded to dip...I didn't notice it yet but I was already in trouble. (I consider myself a very good swimmer. I graduated to the deep part of our pool around the age of 4 and I've always had a passion for the activity and as odd as it sounds I never learned tide patterns and safety techniques in the ocean.) I was treading for several minutes, drifting further and struggling with the choppy water all in the effort of getting seven complete dunks. I barely managed two dunks and I was working on the third when I realized I was completely exhausted.
The only way to describe the feeling of being trapped on all sides by a choppy ocean is pure helplessness and true respect for how dangerous water really is.
